Never Let Go

Just like every other night, tonight had been a very frustrating one for me. One would have thought that by now I would have been used to it, used to the disappointment and pain that this job often brings, however that isn’t the case for me. Every new pain and frustration still hit as hard as the first one did. What made tonight a whole lot worse was not the fact that I had lost a lot of money.But that I had lost money I would have sent back home to take care of my youngest sister that was very sick.

When will this trouble be over?

The walk through the midnight sky and empty streets of Diamond University which was supposed to clear my head as I returned to my hostel, didn’t do much of the former. Instead, here I am dragging my feet while I kick any loose gravel on the tarred road in a bid to force out my frustration. My pain was too fresh, too loud and too deep for a simple walk to clear. I need something more, something that will change my perspective and see a bright future where I could see none. Sadly, there was nothing like that.

If I had been like the rest of my course-mates who have money to burn, I would have buried my sorrow with a crate or two of alcohol. But even I couldn’t afford to do that, lest I affect my feeding money. Which was why I was settling for kicking loose gravel and grinding my teeth like a wounded animal simply licking its wounds.

If I were like the rest of my course-mates in school who were all children of wealthy parents in one way or the other, then this ever present pressure to make money wouldn’t be so heavy on my shoulders. I am yet a student and already the burden to feed my parents and three sisters was already too heavy to hear. What of when I graduate? What then? Will I spend half my time taking care of my family and the other half taking care of my future family?

I can’t even think of the absolute frustration that would be tenfold should that be my future.

But then again, if I had been from one of those families, I wouldn’t have the family I had at the moment. Sure we were living in abject poverty and we could only survive this long because of the scholarships I had gotten from my primary school days till date, but the thought of exchanging them for some strangers, doesn’t seem palatable to me. After all, the grass was always greener on the other side and there was no family devoid of problems.

There is also the fact that nothing in life came without consequences. Especially wealth.

With a depressed groan, I kick another gravel and continue the walk for another thirty minutes, and to my surprise, I actually begin to feel better. My delight though is cut short by the sight before me, a person standing by the bridge.

Sure the bridge is beautiful and all, and the water that flows beneath it is something to look at once in a while, in fact it is one of the campus’ best features, but that didn’t mean someone should be watching it at midnight. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that whoever was standing by the bridge and looking at the water, was thinking of taking a midnight swim.

But I do know better and there was only one thing anybody could be thinking of doing at midnight on a bridge.

Before I could ready myself to approach the suicidal person, the person took two swings over the rails and leaped into the river.

I didn’t know the person from Adam, or Noah, or any other timeline, but I know that I couldn’t just stand there and watch some rich kid take their life. Nah, life is hard for me and I am yet to give up my life, it would be illogical for someone born into wealth to give up their lives.

Without a second thought, I drop my bag on the pavement and sprint across the pavement to leap over the bridge and into the water. There was no way I was going to let one of these rich folks commit suicide on my watch, my conscience wouldn’t let me rest if I allowed this to happen. After all, how could they commit suicide when I with my thousand reasons to do so hadn’t done it yet? If I chose to live, then whoever this was, was going to be alive with me.

The time between my leap and my splash into the water was a matter of seconds, and with only three strokes, I was able to grab unto the suicidal person and aggressively pull the person’s small frame through the water as I swam for the shore.

“Let me go! Let me go!” The girl screams at the top of her lungs as she struggled against my unyielding hands.

I didn’t even bother to try and reason with her as I pull her to the shore. There was no way in hell I was going to let her kill herself now that I have saved her. There were many reasons why she could want to commit suicide but none of that mattered to me at the moment.

“Let me go!” She screams again as I take her to where my bag is, while water drips down our clothes.

“Why should I?” I ask as I push her ahead of him before I grab my bag from the ground.

“Why do you care? I don’t know you and neither do you know me. So why did you stop me!” She screams at the top of her lungs while giving me a glare so deep I might have taken a step back if not for my conviction.

“Because I don’t want your death on my conscience?” I ask as I dust my bag. “If you want to kill yourself then do it when there is no witness.”

“That’s why I came out at midnight. I didn’t expect to see anyone walking around.” She says as she calms down a little.

“I always walk this path at midnight every day since I came to this school.” I say with a nonchalant shrug. “You should have first scouted this area before you proceeded to try to kill yourself. Or at least, you should have tried by 3 am or something.” I say as I wear my bag.

“What?” She asks in confusion before she looks at me from my head to my toes. “Are you discouraging me from killing myself or encouraging me to be better at it?”

“I am giving you advice that you should have taken prior to tonight. But since I have met you and spoken to you after stopping you from ending your life, I apologize but you will have to postpone killing yourself till graduation.” I say firmly.

“What is it to you the time I kill myself?” She asks in confusion.

“You are not killing yourself as long as you and I are in this school.” I say with a glare towards her which forces her to take a step back in even more confusion.

“What?”

“You are not killing yourself and that’s final.” I insist before I grab her hand. “Where do you stay, hostel or off campus?”

“Why?” She asks, clearly stumped by his question.

“If you stay in the female hostel, I should take you there and let your room-mates know that you should be observed tonight.”

“And if I stay off campus?” She asks as we begin to walk through the road of Diamond University, devoid of people but filled with school buildings at either side.

“I will let your neighbours know that you should be observed.” I say.

“So your plan to stop me from committing suicide is to let everyone in the school know that I want to kill myself huh?” She asks as she forces her hand out of his. “If that is your grand plan to keep me alive, then I have bad news for you...”

“I will stay with you tonight.” I scramble to say instead. “I will spend the night with you to make sure you don’t kill yourself and then we will see how tomorrow will be.”

Okay bruv, isn’t that a little too ridiculous an idea?

Oh I know that I am being a little bit overboard, but this was a serious matter. I had not yet even bothered to delve into why she wanted to kill herself, because I know that whatever had made her consider suicide had to be a serious problem for her. Nevertheless, I’m not going to allow her kill herself when I am aware of her plan. I at least have to do my best to stop her from doing this, that way I would sleep well at night.

“You want to spend the night with me?” She asks with a scoff as she stops walking. “We are strangers, why should I let you spend the night with me?”

“You almost killed yourself, I think spending the night together is the least of your problems.” I say before I take one step towards her. “So where do you stay?”

“Off campus.” She said after looking at both my eyes.

“Lead the way.” I say before I take her hand and gesture for her to lead the way.

In the end, I have a thousand problems in my life, but here I am, adding one more problem to my life because of my damn conscience and refusal to let a rich kid die.

Kudos to you Daniel, at least you can carry one more problem.

*********************************

“So this here is my apartment.” She says as they arrive thirty minutes later at a six storey luxurious building that had my mouth drop.

To think that a girl who lived in the Palace could actually attempt suicide was a thought I didn’t want to entertain. The mere sight of the luxury, the lights and the known splendor within the six apartments and ground floor for guards, was enough to vex me instead of make me sympathize with her. However, I had to take in a deep breath to reorganize my thoughts.

That she lived in a place like this didn’t mean she couldn’t possibly have a reason to want to kill herself. At least now I know her problem wasn’t financial. Her problem could be related to something else that affected only the rich. Maybe it was emotional. Maybe she was devoid of love due to her station and had felt so alone suicide had been her only choice. Or maybe she was being abused at home. It could also be the combination of both or something else entirely like blackmail. Whatever the reason could be, I didn’t have to ask since I definitely had no solution that will solve her problem.

“You must be among the top six richest students in this school then.” I say at last as I look at each level of the building that signified the wealth and status of the students in the university.

In Diamond University there were six of the richest students in campus, and all six of them were nearly regarded as gods and goddesses themselves, with all their parents being either governors or among the top one percent.

“So you do know me?” She asks as she looks at me.

“I have never met you before, I don’t even know your name. But from us being here, I can tell that you are wealthy.”

“My father is wealthy, not me.” She says before she leads me into the intimidating looking structure. “You still going to stick by me like glue once you find out who I am?”

“I am a man of my words.” I say as she leads me through the lobby and to the elevator without greeting the security men at the desk who look at me with raised brows. “Uh, I am supposed to be the one confidently trying to keep you alive, but why do I get the sense you are enjoying this more than I am?”

“I want to see how long you will last trying to keep me alive.” She says as she presses the button for the elevator. “As you said, my father is very wealthy, which means I have a lot of people around me all the time.”

“And none of those people have any interest in keeping you alive.” I rebut as the elevator door opens.

“True, but you are not going to go around telling people I tried to kill myself now will you?” She asks as she pulls him into the elevator to choose the top floor.

“Obviously not.” I say with a scoff of my own only for my eyes to widen in shock. “Wait, you stay at the top floor?”

“Yeah I do.” She says before she smirks at me. “Do you know who I am now?”

“I have an idea.” I say before I look away from her to stare at my reflection in the elevator door.

Oh I had an idea alright. To be at the first floor, meant she was at the top of the financial and social food chain in Diamond University. Her drama just kept getting more and more intriguing the more I spoke with her. With all that power and wealth and her reputation for not harming others, why would she try to kill herself? Was there anyone or anything pressuring someone like her to the extent of going that extreme?

“We are here.” She says as the doors open to the hallway that had only one door ahead of them.

“Okay.” I mutter in reply as I adjust my bag on my back in discomfort.

“Now don’t be intimidated by the size of my room alright?” She says as she drags me to her room door and opens it with a password she didn’t bother hiding from me.

“You didn’t even bother trying to hide your password from me.”

“I think we are passed that stage, don’t you think?” She asks before she drags me into her room, grinning from ear to ear.

As I enter her spacious apartment which was bigger than my house at home, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit of envy. She had everything I could wish for, money, power and a place like this, everything he could possibly dream for. Yet she had taken all of this for granted. It made me feel both angry at her and then a little bit of pity for her. After all, why would anyone want to abandon all of this?

“So, I will stay right here.” I say as I point at her couch. “You will take the bed and stay there for the night.”

“Do you think I will sneak out at 3 am to kill myself once you are asleep?”

“Let’s not pretend like that isn’t something you can do.” I say, ignoring her jab at ‘3 am’.

“Won’t you fall asleep? Or do you plan to hold a night vigil?” She asked with a smirk.

“I will stay awake all night if need be.” I insist as I drop my bag by the side and sit on the couch. “You are not killing yourself tonight.”

“But you need your rest, else how would you keep me alive tomorrow?” She asks before she sits on her bed to stare at me with eyes that felt like they could see my soul.

“I’m glad you are worrying about me, at least that takes your mind off things.” I say with a nod. “But I have been able to pull all-nighters throughout my stay in this University with no problems.”

“But keeping me alive is different from reading a couple of books here and there.” She says before she lays on her bed with a huff. “Suit yourself Prince Charming.”

“I’m not Prince Charming.” I say with a scoff before I got comfortable on her couch. “Good night.”

“Good night.” She replies and turns to her side on her bed to doze off.

I had seen right through her attempts to lighten the mood and push attention away from her to me. She was scared and didn’t really want to die, no one really wanted to die. The only thing anyone that wanted to commit suicide really wanted, was to end their torment. To stop the pain they were feeling, nothing more than that.

I don’t know what she was going through, and I didn’t want to ask, because knowing wouldn’t change anything. Instead all I wanted to do was to keep her alive long enough for her to find a solution to her problem, a solution that wouldn’t include suicide.